MacGregor Campbell over at New Scientist reports on how groups of scientists are working on a universal robot operating system (called ROS).

This system, they say, would allow for far greater advances in robotic technology, because rather than starting from scratch every time someone goes to construct a robot, the basic controlling code will exist – meaning more time can be spent on the mechanical aspect of the robot rather than the software side of things.

This seems to make a lot of sense – it would help everyone from all walks of robotic life as well. From the corporation that is trying to construct mass-market robots to homebrewers who are just trying to make something cool in their spare time.

Not to mention this would allow different robots – even ones from different manufacturers – to “talk” to each other, share information and generally make it easier to perform tasks.

For example, let’s say your Roomba was vacuuming a bedroom – the Roomba can communicate this to the other robots in the home, say one made by US Robots and Mechanical Men, so that they know to stay out of the bedroom until it is done.

You can check out the ROS project at SourceForge – which is also a great sign. This means that the ROS is available to everyone, which certainly will help with adoption down the road.

Microsoft is also developing software for robots as well with similar intent. You can insert your own “Blue Screen of Death” joke here.

Of course, this is not a bad thing – the more the merrier. While some might argue this could create groups of robots who can’t talk to each other because they are each using a different operating system, the flip side is, as long as more than one group is working on it, a better OS will be created. After all, each group will want the best so that their OS becomes the standard.